The broad objective of this research project is to gain further insight into metabolic processes in marine organisms and especially the mechanisms controlling such processes. Particular attention is to be focused on processes involving the utilization and formation of glucose and free fatty acids. Control of these processes in mammals involves the action of hormones upon the rate of production of cyclic AMP and in turn its action, often indirectly through protein kinases, on various enzymes. The primary question is asked: Does this chain of control reactions in mammals represent a process in which an evolutionary development can be detected as one descends the so-called phylogenetic tree.